Spokane man gets 20 years for fentanyl operation with 2 million lethal doses

A Spokane man was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday for his role in running a commercial fentanyl pill press operation out of a Spokane residence, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.

According to court documents, Timothy Maddox and his co-conspirator, Nicholas Adams, obtained a commercial pill press via mail from China. In the basement of Adams’ residence, a “pill mill” was created, with the co-conspirators mixing powder fentanyl and cutting agents to manufacture fentanyl pills for bulk distribution in the community.

“The volume of fentanyl that this investigation took off the street is truly staggering,” U.S. Attorney Pete Serrano said. “I cannot overstate the impact our team made here by identifying a repeat criminal who was manufacturing vast quantities of this deadly drug while heavily armed. Removing him for decades will protect this community in ways seen and unseen.”

Pill press operation contained enough fentanyl to kill all of Spokane County

In November 2023, search warrants were executed at multiple locations, seizing large quantities of fentanyl powder, cutting agents, a commercial pill press, pill press parts, and multiple firearms.

The Department of Ecology aided in the search warrant on Adams’ home due to the extremely hazardous contamination of nearly every flat surface in the “pill mill.”

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) calculations estimated that the amount of fentanyl powder possessed by Maddox and Adams was enough to make more than two million fentanyl pills containing lethal doses.

“Put another way, the amount of fentanyl powder they had on hand to make these illicit pills could kill the entire population of Spokane County almost four times over,” DOJ stated.

Along with the fentanyl production, Maddox and Adams possessed massive amounts of methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, MDMA, and marijuana. Both suspects were armed with multiple loaded firearms in their residences, which included loaded handguns, loaded modified shotguns, and rifles.

In Maddox’s residence, he possessed a loaded firearm that had a “Glock switch,” making the firearm a fully automatic machine gun, along with a loaded large drum magazine and three sets of body armor.

“I am confident that the removal of this significant and lethal amount of fentanyl, other dangerous drugs, and a cache of weapons, combined with the equipment used to produce and distribute these deadly pills rapidly, saved lives,” Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels stated.

Spokane suspects’ previous criminal record spans 30 years

Maddox has a lengthy criminal record over the last 30 years, including residential burglary, vehicle theft, domestic violence, negligent driving, protection order violations, assault, and drug trafficking. Maddox had a previous federal conviction for drug trafficking in 2015, and told arresting officers he had been dealing drugs “for years” in the Spokane area.

During Maddox’s “pill mill” operation, he also committed a drive-by shooting where he fired eight rounds into an occupied residence and, several days later, fired approximately 17 times into an occupied vehicle.

“Mr. Maddox is a career criminal who endangered the safety and health of our community with a truly lethal mix of homemade counterfeit fentanyl pills and automatic weapons,” David F. Reames, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Seattle Field Division, stated. “Mr. Maddox made fentanyl even more dangerous by recklessly mixing substances at home, where he could include anything he chose into his deadly concoctions.”

Maddox was sentenced to 20 years in prison, followed by five years of court supervision after his release.

Adams is currently pending trial, which is scheduled for Dec. 2025.

The case was investigated by the DEA, Homeland Security Investigations, the Regional Anti-Violence Enforcement and Narcotics Task Force, and the Spokane Police Department.

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